SCIENCE AND RESEARCH

THE CZECH REPUBLIC ïš» COUNTRY WHERE THE WORD "ROBOT" HAS ITS ORIGIN

LIST OF CENTRES FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION SMART, HARDWORKING AND EDUCATED PEOPLE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

SCIENCE AND RESEARCH 1 2017

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

Czech Business and Trade Economic Magazine is Designed for Foreign Partners, Interested in Cooperation with the Czech Republic Issued by PP AGENCY s.r.o. in cooperation with  Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic  Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic  Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic  Confederation of Employers‘ and Entrepreneurs‘ Associations of the Czech Republic  Czech Chamber of Commerce  CzechTrade

 INTRODUCTION Eduard Palíšek

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 ANALYSIS The Czech Republic – the Country Where the Word "Robot" Has Its Origin

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PARTNER OF THE MAGAZINE: ICC Czech Republic EDITORIAL BOARD: Vladimír Bärtl, Jiří Hansl, Marcela Havlová, Jaromír Kohlíček, Dagmar Kuchtová, Martin Lukáš, Karel Machotka, Marie Pavlů, Tomáš Seidl, Miroslav Somol, Jarmila Škvrnová, Jan Špunda, Martin Tlapa, Jan Wiesner

 TECHNOLOGY Technology Agency of Czech Republic

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MANAGING EDITOR: Pavla Podskalská EDITORS: Rut Bízková, Jarmila Škvrnová TRANSLATION: Vlasta Benešová

 CATALOGUE Czech Centres for Research and Development

1–21

PROOFREADING: Pearl Harris, Ivana Kadlecová GRAPHIC DESIGN: Stanislava Podaná COVER PHOTO: Centrum HiLASE DEADLINE: 30/5/2017 © PP Agency ADDRESS: Myslíkova 25, 110 00 Praha 1 Czech Republic e-mail: journal@ppagency.cz www.ppagency.cz, www.doingbusiness.cz Press run: 10 000 copies. It is not allowed to reproduce any part of the contents of this journal without prior consent from the Editor.

Attitudes expressed by the authors of articles carried by CBT need not necessarily be consistent with the standpoint of the Publisher.

MK ČR E 6379, ISSN 1211-2208 „Podávání novinových zásilek povoleno Českou poštou, s. p., odštěpný závod Přeprava, č. j. 3468/95, ze dne 24/10/1995“

 SCIENCE Science Technology Advanced Region

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The Association of Research Organisations

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CzechInvest Links Czech R&D with Other Countries

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 PRESENTATION OF FIRMS ABF, a.s.; BioVendor - Laboratorní medicína a.s.; BVV Brněnské veletrhy a výstavy, spol. s r.o.; Centrum výzkumu Řež s.r.o.

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INTRODUCTION

Introduction

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sations have failed, others were very successful – the Škoda Car Company is known worldwide. And then came the third stage, which started sometime around 2000. The massive take-up of investment incentives attracted into to the Czech Republic a number of world-renowned companies and our country became a super power in the production of cars. Our main advantage was a relatively inexpensive and well-qualified workforce. We have become a country with the reputation of "country of assembly halls". In 2004, we joined the European Union, which was beneficial not only for the economy. The industry-based national economy of the country is an asset till the present – we have relatively well overcome the economic crisis around 2008, producing quality products with costs acceptable for foreign owners of the great share of the economic potential of our country.

Eduard Palíšek Chairman Committee for Research and Development Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic CEO Siemens Czech Republic

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic is the premier business lobbying organisation in the Czech Republic providing a voice for employers at a national and international level. Our main mission is to promote the conditions in which businesses of all sizes and sectors in the Czech Republic can flourish and stay competitive. We represent 11 000 member in total, which includes 140 direct members and 31 collective members (branch associations).

The Confederation of industry of the Czech Republic is participating in shaping of the environment for research, development, and innovations from the perspective of the companies. We comment on important documents, appropriate chapters of the budget dedicated to R&D. We also comment on the design of the state agencies projects (including Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Industry and Trade, EU Operational Program (OP PIK and OP VVV ).

We have representatives in various advisory and monitoring bodies such as Research, Development and Innovation Council, Council on Competitiveness and Economic Growth, Monitoring Committees, Programme Councils.

There are universities and many local and global innovative companies among our members. The Association of Research Organisations is also one of our important collective members. Our aim is to assert and protect their interests.

For the foreign investors, we are bringing updated information not only from the field of R&D, but also other areas such as labour law, environmental regulations, and others.

Photo: Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic

Dear Readers, I am honoured to introduce you to the world of Czech research. And I am also honoured to be able to do this on behalf of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, the largest Czech association of employers and entrepreneurs in the field of industry and transport.

This issue of Czech Business and Trade covers only a part of research in the Czech Republic. It informs about new research infrastructures that have been built with support from the European Structural Funds during the last six to seven years.

This has greatly expanded the research potential of the Czech Republic. Worldclass workplaces have been set up, equipped with devices that you often do not find within the range of many hundreds of kilometres. Personalities of international reputation work here, which create exceptionally high quality international teams. The Czech Republic, a country in the centre of Europe, can therefore be a "promised country" to all who want to work in a truly creative environment with top contemporary equipment.

Historically, the Czech Republic is one of the most industrialised countries in

Europe. Also, at present, industry's share in GDP is one of the highest one in the European Union. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, we went through several important stages.

The first was a revolutionary period of division of Czechoslovakia, the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, as was the official name of our country, into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. This division, however, was relatively quiet and friendly and represents an example of a "quiet divorce" for other countries worldwide. Since that time, the Czechs and Slovaks have the best mutual relations among themselves. On the other hand, as for our exports, especially to the more distant countries, we lost the mark Czechoslovakia. The designation "Made in Czechoslovakia" had been a mark of quality for decades not only for machinery products.

The second period, the 1990s, was the period of privatisation and dramatic changes in the economy. Large industrial units have collapsed, Czechoslovakia has, for example, ceased to be a producer of a large volume of arms and related products, leaving many of the markets on which we were established. Some privati-

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

The Czech Republic – the Country Where the Word "Robot" has Its Origin More than ten years ago, when the discussion was held in the Czech Republic on how to reform the research, development and innovation system and what should be done to link research and education, the Nassim Nicholas Taleb´s book called Black Swan had not been written yet. However, when the reform was finally adopted, its implementation was not meant to become a black swan, i.e. an event which is "rare, extremely important and retrospectively (though not prospective) predictable." The reform was meant to bring about a significant change and the results were considered predictable and the support from the European Structural Funds was expected to achieve those results. Yet, now it can be seen that the vast European money granted to research in the Czech Republic acted like a black swan - the likely scenarios did not materialise and the results achieved were different from those originally thought. This black swan, however, has provided the Czech Republic with an extraordinary opportunity - to become the scientific "heart of Europe", a place where people not only enjoy good living conditions, but which also offers well-equipped research institutions and excellent education at high-quality universities.

Therefore, the country in the heart of Europe with a rich history, beautiful scenery, peace and tranquillity is at least worth visiting. Moreover, this country offers newly built research facilities, extremely well equipped with state of the art devices, which are ready to collaborate and share knowledge.

 SOME STATISTICS Some time ago the Czech Republic was referred to as the "country of assembly halls." Investment incentives have attracted a number of large foreign companies, which have built up largescale production capacity. The automotive industry is still the strongest sector representing more than 10 % of the Czech

automotive industry generates a large share of national GDP and employs 12 % of all employees in the manufacturing industry.

Nevertheless, we have ceased to be the country of assembly halls. Large investments on research, both in the public and private sectors, have transformed the Czech Republic into the land of development

TOTAL R&D EXPENDITURE 100 000

2,50%

90 000 80 000

2,00%

70 000 60 000

1,50%

50 000 40 000 30 000

1,00%

20 000 10 000

0,50%

0

0,00% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 R&D expendi ture i n CZK mi l i on

GERD a s a % of GDP

R&D expenditure has more than doubled in the last ten years, reaching almost 2 % of GDP

exports. Car production binds a considered number of subcontractors from plastics, glass, rubber, and other industries. As a result, the whole

centres. It is easy to backup this affirmation from the statistics. Foreign investment in research, from foreign companies, increased threefold in ten years along with

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ANALYSIS

the number of employees by 2.5 times. Today, the largest foreign companies employ 35 % of the researchers followed by the Czech-owned medium-sized companies.

In a ten-year period, the spending of these

ever, government spending and other resources from the EU structural and investment funds play also an important role.

The government funding support for basic research is particularly higher than for

TOTAL EXPENDITURE - CURRENT AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURE 80 000 70 000 60 000 50 000 40 000 30 000 20 000 10 000 0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Non-i nves tment expendi tures

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2011

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Inves tment expendi tures

In recent years, research and development has attracted a great deal of investment - capital spending on research amounted to almost 20 % of spending in 2015, growing four times in last the 10 years, while current spending grew approximately twice.

large foreign companies on research have gone from just over CZK 7 billion to almost CZK 22 billion.

The Czech Republic’s annual financial support to research represents about 2 % of GDP, which is comparable with the EU

applied research. Conversely, companies quite dominantly invest in applied research and experimental development.

The number of people involved in research is growing. It is worth noting that today we are at the same level as the Eu-

TOTAL EXPENDITURE - CURRENT AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURE IN % 120.0% 100.0% 80.0% 60.0% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2012

2014

2015

Purcha s e of other Į xed a s s ets (ma chi nes , tool s , s oŌwa re) Acqui s i Ɵ on of l a nd a nd bui l di ngs Other non-i nves tment expendi tures Wa ges Wages represent 40-45 % of all R&D spending on a long-term basis, and the share of funds for the purchase of machinery and equipment for research has risen extraordinarily over the last 10 years.

average. Over half of the funding is paid by the private sector though, whose expenditures show the fastest growth as well (graph BES expenditure on R & D). How| 6

ropean average. Per one thousand people employed, 15 are researchers and more than 20 are additional staff in research.

Basic research is mainly concentrated in

How to find research partners in the Czech Republic?

The largest "signpost" for information on research organisations is the CzechInvest website, www.czechinvest.org or www. czech-research.com. Here you can find links to most of the organisations that are active in the field of research. As for state programmes through which research is supported, information is available on the websites of those ministries or other organisations that provide funding. The programmes are open to all EU actors.

The most important providers are the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (www.msmt.cz), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (www.mpo.cz), the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, which supports collaborative applied research (www.tacr.cz) and the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, which supports basic research (www.gacr.cz).

the Academy of Sciences, while applied research is more typical for universities.

A total of 2 800 research centres exist in the Czech Republic, of which the vast majority are operated by companies. This total number includes 54 institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 26 public and state universities, university hospitals, 17 public research institutions and other organisations supervised by the ministries. On top of that, it also includes the newly built research infrastructures established with the received support from the European Structural Funds – 48 new research centres specialised in natural and technical sciences, medicine, nuclear research, and other fields.

Long-term research is concentrated mainly in the capital city of Prague and the Moravian city of Brno (the second largest city). European funds have helped certain "equalisation of opportunities" between these two cities, since Brno was eligible to build research capacity within European money, whereas Prague was not (Prague is one of Europe's richest cities, therefore it exceeds the eligibility criteria for support according to some of the EU funds). Moreover, many centres were established near Prague and significant amounts

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

Research and Development Information System There is a very detailed and publicly accessible information system for research and development available in the Czech Republic, which is currently operated at https://www.rvvi.cz. Here you can find information about entities that are active in research in the Czech Republic and obtained some support from the state funds. It is possible to get acquainted with the topics of such research as well as with results. The information system contains an overview of all state-funded research programmes.

The structure of the Research and Development Information System is as follows: • CEA - Central Activity Database provides an overview of R&D support providers, R&D programmes and research entities • VES - Records of Public Procurements - gives an overview of which calls are open and which have already ended • CEP - Central Project Record - provides information on all research projects that have been funded from public funds • RIV - Results Information Register - provides information on what results have been achieved in R&D projects - Classification of results is derived from the Frascati manual • CEZ - Central Record of Research Intents - Provides information on the history of research in the Czech Republic. Until the R&D & I reform in the Czech Republic at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, funding for the development of research organisations were provided on the basis of their strategic direction formulated in the research intents. Their overview can now be found in CEZ.

of funds were invested to support research in Ostrava (the third largest city), in addition to other university towns like Olomouc, Plzeň, and České Budějovice.

With some level of exaggeration, we can say that with the support of EU funds,

the Czech Republic has begun to write a new chapter on research and improvement in social conditions for the development of its regions and the country as a whole.

major private research organisations and the Technical University of Ostrava ( VSB) – Czech fifth largest university – was also focused on these fields in the past. With the support from European

SOURCES OF R&D FUNDING 60.0%

50 000 45 000

50.0%

40 000 35 000

40.0%

30 000 30.0%

25 000 20 000

20.0%

15 000 10 000

10.0%

5 000 0.0%

0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

pri va te publ i c from a broa d pri va te publ i c from a broa d

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

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publ i c from the Czech Republ i c other from the Czech republ i c publ i c from the Czech Republ i c other from the Czech republ i c

The ratio of research funding from corporate and public sources is rather balanced in the long run, even though firms invest in research by just over 50 % of resources. In recent years, the share of European Structural Funds in public spending on research has grown.

 THREE REPRESENTING STORIES IT4Innovations – National Supercomputing Center The Moravia-Silesia Region is historically a synonym for coal and steel. Its main city, Ostrava, was called in the past

funds, the VSB has established several infrastructure centres for materials research and energy and one large infrastructure of international importance, IT4I, which it owns and operates, belongs to the Top100 most powerful

PUBLIC R&D EXPENDITURE - SHARE IN GDP 45 000

1.2%

40 000

1.0%

35 000 30 000

0.8%

25 000

0.6%

20 000

0.4%

15 000 10 000

0.2%

5 000

0.0%

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 publ i c expendi ture i n mi l li on CZK

GDP s ha re

Public spending on research has been increasing steadily over the last decade - from 0.55 % of GDP in 2005 to 0.93 % in 2015. European Structural Funds have had a major share in this growth.

the "steel heart of the Republic". Mining, metallurgy, coal-based energy, and heavy chemistry prevailed and up until today still form a very important part of the production of this industrial region.

Research, whose base lies in several

supercomputers worldwide. This new research infrastructures provide the region with completely new options.

Simply saying, school now generates less miners or metallurgists and more IT crowd.

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ANALYSIS

The triangle formed among these infrastructures gives enough space for those who would like to establish research-based startups. The Central Bohemian Innovation Centre (SIC) located in the vicinity provides support to such activities. The whole area bears the common name – Star region – a region where people not only do research and develop but also live and educate themselves. As such, this place that is so close to Prague has a centripetal force.

All due to new scientific work and smart management of local municipalities.

 JIC - SOUTH MORAVIAN

INNOVATION CENTRE The South Moravia Region was the first one to develop and adopt the Regional Innovation Strategy in 2001. Based on it and for its implementation, JIC was established afterwards. During more than 15 years the local government, the City of Brno, research organisations and universities in the region found their “common language” and started to work together on the development

 STAR – SCIENCE AND

PERSONS EMPLOYED IN R&D (HC)

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE REGION

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120 000 100 000 80 000 60 000 40 000 20 000 0 2005

2006

pri va te

2007

2008

2009

governmenta l

2010

2011

a ca demi c

2012

2013

2014

2015

non-governmenta l

There are approximately one hundred thousand employees in research and development, mostly in private research, followed by the academic sector.

Tax deductions on research and development The Income Tax Act (No. 586/1992 Coll., §§ 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d, 34e) allows entities taxing their income in the Czech Republic to deduct from the income tax base the cost of research carried out in their own organisation (more than doubled) as well as the cost of research services by external research organisations (for example, at http://www.czechlegislation.com/en/586-1992-sb).

Although direct (subsidy) support for research from public sources is dominant in the Czech Republic, the share of indirect support through tax deductions is increasing.

Photo: www.sxc.hu

Similar to other capital cities in the world, Prague surroundings suffer from a sort of vacuum effect: Prague – home of many big companies, of at least onethird of all research potential of the Czech Republic, and of eight of the 26 Czech universities – attracts the attention of those who are interested in cutting-edge e-ducation and research. Nevertheless, the Star region – something that is somewhat similar to the Weizmann Institute in Israel – has emerged just outside of Prague in recent years. Three large research infrastructures, responding to the "challenges of the future" – projects ELI, HiLASE, and BIOCEV – have grown on the territory of several municipalities. First of these projects, ELI, is part of the European structure for examining physical background of lasers (its other parts are located in Hungary and Romania). HiLASE studies the practical applications of lasers (e.g. in 3D printing). BIOCEV is a large research centre for cellular biology and virology, functional genomics, protein and tissue engineering, biotechnology, and for the development of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

of the innovative potential of the Region.

The result is a growing number of new successful companies, of which more than 200 technology startups and companies have gone through the JIC programme. Today, JIC is an innovative centre of European significance with three buildings, two subsidiaries, and nearly 50 employees.

 THE COUNTRY WHERE THE

WORD "ROBOT" HAS ITS ORIGIN The Czech Republic has a very long and rich industrial history. At present, it belongs to the European countries with the highest share of industry in national wealth (gross value added). It is therefore an opportunity for us, as well as the risk that – due to the "digitisation of everything", using the Internet, the rapid transmission of large volumes of data and processing independently at the point – the way of industrial production will change completely, which may mean a fundamental change of the way of life of people. Robotic production, decentralised energy production, autonomous

NUMBER OF R&D WORKERS BY CHARACTERISATION

60 000 50 000 40 000 30 000 20 000

How to cooperate in research in the Czech Republic The research potential of the Czech Republic gives great opportunities for cooperation in the field of research and development. It is quite common to work at research institutes in the Czech Republic (see e.g. www.researchjobs.cz) or to invite Czech scientists abroad. Another possibility is to cooperate within projects of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic or with Czech companies or research organisations on projects of collaborative research.

Such projects are supported in particular by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic through the Delta programme (www.tacr.cz) and the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (www.msmt.cz).

Contract research (custom-made research) can also be commissioned in research organisations or a development workplace can be established in the Czech Republic (which can be subject to investment incentives under certain circumstances).

10 000 0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

The number of R&D workers in private research development is slightly higher than that of technic workers.

This is an ongoing process, driven by increasing number of R&D staff in large foreign-held companies, where this category distinctly outweighs technic workers.

COMPANIES BY SPENDING ON R&D 3 000 2 500 2 000 1 500 1 000 500 0 2005

2006

l es s tha n 1

2007

2008

l es s tha n 10

2009

2010

l es s tha n 50

2011

2012

2013

l es s tha n 100

2014

2015

a bove 100

Number of private R&D sites has increased by almost 50 % within the last ten years, however, the locations with R&D expenditures below CZK 10 million remain the most populous group. On the other hand, the number of sites with expenditures above CZK 100 million more than doubles, with ownership skewed towards the foreignheld companies (65 out of 89 total).

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ANALYSIS

MANAGEMENT OF R&D SYSTEM IN THE CR

transportation are challenges that can only be overcome when we are able to innovate fundamentally to change products, services, processes, implement new ideas and people´s needs. The Czech Republic´s research institutions are well prepared for this change. Three centres with centripetal force are emerging: Prague - Smart City, Brno - Silicon Valley, Ostrava - Smart Energy. We are ready to solve everything related to the new conditions of life of people in the 21st century, whatever is associated with digitisation and new energy. Research of new materials, technologies, new fields of medicine, biotechnology, and nano-

technology are a natural part of this solution. In the long term, the Czech Republic is exceptionally strong in chemical sciences, mathematics and physics. For all of this, we have our own research potential – both in equipment and in human resources.

Apart from the potential in research or industry, we have great opportunities in other creative fields. The world knows Czech artists – art group Tvrdošíjní (the Stubborn Ones), whose members were the painter Josef Čapek, author of the word "robot" and his brother Karel Čapek, the writer who used this word for the first time in 1920 in his prophetic stage play called

R&D SITES IN PRIVATE SECTOR ACROSS ECONOMIC SECTORS (CZ-NACE) 1 200

Other s ervi ces

Management of research in the Czech Republic The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports is the central state administration authority for research and development. The Czech Republic has adopted a special law to support research, Act No. 130/2002 Coll., On support for research, development and innovation. Under this law, a governmental Council for Research, Development and Innovation has been established as an advisory body that formulates governmental research and development policy, carries out evaluation of results and proposes annual budget for at support of research, development and innovation. The head of this advisory body is the Deputy Prime Minister for Science, Research and Innovation.

The state budget contain three separate chapters to support research – the budget chapters of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

Moreover, research at universities is supported through the Ministry of Education, research in private research organisations through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, agricultural research through the Ministry of Agriculture, and medical research through the Ministry of Health. In total, research is supported through 11 chapters of the state budget.

Cul ture a nd recrea Ɵ on 1 000

Hea l thcare a nd s oci a l s ervi ces Other pri va te s ervi ces

800

Sci enƟ Į c a nd techni ca l a cƟ vi Ɵ es Ba nki ng a nd i ns ura nce

600

Tel ecommuni ca Ɵ ons Tra ns port a nd s tora ge

400

Whol es a l e a nd reta i l , repa i r of vehi cl es Cons trucƟ on

200

ProducƟ on a nd di s tri buƟ on of wa ter, el ectri ci ty, ga s , hea t a nd wa s te-rel a ted a cƟ vi Ɵ es

0

Mi ni ng 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Agri cul ture

More than half of R&D sites is found within the companies in the manufacturing industry. During the last ten years, the number of sites increased by a half.

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R.U.R. (Rossum´s Universal Robots). Also, Laterna Magica - the world's first multi-media theatre developed in 1958 - represents a unique link between art and technology. Overall, Czech Republic is a country extremely well prepared for international cooperation in (not only) research, development and innovation.

Rut Bízková Director of the Central Bohemian Innovation Centre bizkova@s-ic.cz

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic has always been the promised land of innovation, traces of which can be found across all fields of technology from holograms, nanowires, and cybernetics to astrophysics. We are the nation that invented the lightning rod, the propeller and contact lenses and also was the first to describe blood groups.

We are a nation of clever solutions and therefore we are constantly investing into the innovation environment for a better future for us all. Our country invests 2 % of GDP into R&D and over the past 7 years we have invested the most in Europe into research infrastructure. This has resulted in us currently having exclusive research capacity on a global level.

This is why the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic has been established, in order to link the worlds of academia and corporate research and development and to support applied research projects and technology transfer. Our projects generate specific unique products, patents and other results that enable research results to be quickly applied into practice. Thereby, we contribute to an increase in the competitiveness of the Czech economy, which is successfully growing mainly due to domestic and foreign innovative companies.

The Technology Agency of Czech Republic supports hundreds of projects worth

many hundreds of millions of crowns, which are related to the principles of Smart Life and create an environment for the progressive development of new methods and technologies to implement the upcoming Industry 4.0. This is made possible thanks to eight programmes of TACR, each of which has its own unique function and importance. A key programme for the commercialisation of research results is EPSILON, which supports projects whose results have a high potential for quick market application, or the GAMA programme, which has important implications for the verification of the results of research and development for practical application and commercial exploitation. The Competence Centres programme has been established to ensure the growth of competitiveness of the Czech Republic and to facilitate collaboration between research organisations and customers in the fields of advanced R&D. TA CR also addresses the social impact of the changes that new trends bring.

R&D&I INFRASTRUCTURES TA CR CC

Source: TA CR, MEYS

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1600

10

supported R&D projects

Therefore, a new ETA programme has been established to focus on the involvement of social sciences and humanities in R&D projects that are beneficial for maintaining and improving the quality of human life in response to social, economic, globalisational, cultural, and technological changes.

We want to involve as many partners as possible with the best ideas and help to change the world for the better. Therefore, we are opening up to the world, for | 12

example, through our own programme of international cooperation DELTA or our involvement in the European network of innovation agencies TAFTIE. This network allows us to share the best experiences and information from partner agencies that also support research, development and innovation. We are proud that TACR took over the imaginary sceptre of the presidency of this network and we will preside over TAFTIE for the duration of 2017.

supporting programmes

20 mld.

CZK total support

1800

supported enterprises

1800

supported research organisations

ELI Beamliness; The Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM)

TA CR programmes  ALPHA – “smart solutions“ – sustainable transportation and protection of the environment  BETA2 – public procurement in R&D for the needs of public administration bodies  OMEGA – “smart solutions“ in the field of applied social sciences  Competence Centres – support for a long-time and sustainable collaboration between research organisations and companies  EPSILON – ministerial strategies and National priorities of applied research  GAMA – support for the commercialisation of outputs of applied research and development  DELTA – support of international collaboration in applied R&D  ZETA – promotion of equalisation of opportunities for young researchers – men and women in applied research projects  ETA – social sciences and humanities in R&D projects, quality of human life and response to dynamic social, economic, globalisational, and cultural changes  THETA – R&D support in the energy sector with a focus on securing state supervision of nuclear safety, new technologies, and long-term technical perspective

Photo: Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the Academy of Sciences (BIOCEV); Centre for Research and Utilisation of Renewable Energy; Centrum HiLASE;

TECHNOLOGY

Czech Centres for Research and Development

R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

1.

Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

CEITEC Brno University of Technology

Nanoscience, advanced materials, cyber-physical systems Purkyňova 123, BRNO, 612 00 www.ceitec.eu Pavel Krečmer +420 541 149 638 pavel.krecmer@ceitec.vutbr.cz Prof. Radimír Vrba

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Tomáš Šikola, Assoc. Prof. Jaromír Hubálek, Prof. Radim Chmelík, Petr Klapetek, Ph.D., Prof. Jozef Kaiser, Prof. Martin Trunec, Prof. Pavel Václavek, Prof. Josef Jančář, Prof. Jaroslav Pokluda

The most important teams in the Centre

Research groups: Smart Nanodevices, Experimental Biophotonics, Fabrication and Characterisation of Nanostructures, Development of Methods for Analysis and Measuring, Materials Characterisation and Advanced Coatings, Advanced Ceramic Materials, Cybernetics in Material Science, Avanced Polymers and Composites, Advanced Metallic Materials, and Metal Based Composites

Unique facility

CEITEC Nano - research infrastructure with facilities for nanofabrication, nanocharacterisation, structural analysis and X-ray tomography and laboratory equipment of specific research groups.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home

Selected papers in top journals:  Uhlíř, V.; Urbánek, M.; Hladík, L.; Spousta, J.; Im, M.; Fischer, P.; Eibagi, N.; Kan, J.; Fullerton, E.; Šikola, T. Dynamic switching of the spin circulation in tapered magnetic nanodisks. NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY, 2013, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 341-346. ISSN: 1748- 3387.  Neužil, P., Giselbrecht, S., Lange, K., Huang, Tj., Manz, A. Revisiting lab-on-a- chip technology for drug discovery. NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY, 2012, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 620632. ISSN: 1474- 1776  Pokluda, J., Černý, M., Šob,M., Umeno, Y. Ab Initio Calculations of Mechanical Properties: Methods and Applications, PROGRESS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE, 2015, vol. 73, pp. 127-158.

ISSN: 0079-6425.  Kaiser, J.; Novotný, K.; Martin, M.; Hrdlička, A.; Malina, R.; Hartl, M.; Adam, V.; Kizek, R. Trace elemental analysis by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy - Biological applications. SURFACE SCIENCE REPORTS, 2012, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 233-243. ISSN: 0167- 5729.  Kolíbal, M.; Pejchal, T.; Vystavěl, T.; Šikola, T. The Synergic Effect of Atomic Hydrogen Adsorption and Catalyst Spreading on Ge Nanowire Growth Orientation and Kinking. NANO LETTERS, 2016, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 4880-4886. ISSN: 1530-6984

The most interesting story

Recent awards:  Czech Brains Award for the invention of unique microscope for living cells observation without contrast agents (prof. Radim Chmelík)  Gold Medal at the 58th International Engineering Fair in Brno for the device “LiteScope” for electron microscopes from NenoVision, which is the first CEITEC BUT’s spin-off company.  1st place - 5th annual Cooperation of the Year (CEITEC BUT, the start-up AtomTrace and Tescan Brno with the Sci-Trace project)  Scientists from CEITEC BUT, in collaboration with the Swedish Karolinska Institutet, contributed to the explanation of the mechanisms responsible for face formation in vertebrates. With their expertise in X-ray computerised tomography, scientists from CEITEC BUT participated in a common research with Karolinska Institutet, which is involved in the development and formation of the face in vertebrates. The results of this long-term collaboration are now published in the prestigious eLife Magazine.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director

Centre for Advanced Microbiology and Immunology in Veterinary Medicine (AdmireVet)

GJ - Animal diseases and pests, veterinary medicine; DN - Influence of the environment on health, immunology, virology, and bacteriology.B11 Hudcova 296/70, Brno, 621 00 www.admirevet.cz, https://tt.vri.cz/ MVDr. Martin Faldyna, Ph.D. +420 777 786 695 faldyna@vri.cz MVDr. Martin Faldyna, Ph.D.

The most important persons in the Centre

Dr. Martin Faldyna, Prof. Ivo Pavlík, Assoc. Prof. Ivan Rychlík, Assoc. Prof. Daniel Růžek, Assoc. Prof.

Renáta Karpíšková, Dr. Kamil Kovařčík, Dr. Kateřina Nedbalcová, Dr. Ján Matiašovic, Dr. Petr Králík

The most important teams in the Centre

Emergent viral diseases, viral diseases of cattle, molecular epidemiology of viral infections, zoonosis and antimicrobial resistance, collection of zoopathogenic microorganisms, clinical immunology and immunology of infectious diseases, salmonelosis in farm animals and molecular bacteriology, mycobacterial infections, food bacteriology, food virology, food adulteration, animal nutrition

Unique facility

Complex of accredited experimental stables for farm animals, allowing both noninfectious and infectious experiments unique in Central Europe, equipped sufficiently enough so that biological sample collection, selected surgeries, and animal visualisations with the use of sonography, X-ray and in-vivo imaging can be performed. Laboratory allowing experiments under biosecurity level 3. Laboratories equipped for handling with microscopic techniques, incl. electron microscopy, in-vitro live imaging, proteomic analyses, multicolor flow cytometry, incl. cell sorting, and MALDI TOF/TOF MS for bacterial identification.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The project is unique because of its infrastructure, programmes, and particularly of the experimental stables, whose background is unique in its character in Central Europe. The project is also unique in its focus on veterinary topics, because hosting Veterinary Research Institute is the only institution of this format in the Czech Republic. The centre, unlike any other centre in the Czech Republic, is more oriented to protection of animal health and safe food.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home

Matiašovic et al.: Using of antigens from Salmonella enterica ssp. Enterica serovar Typhimurium for a serological differentiation of infected and vaccinated pigs. The invention allows the serological differentiation of infected pigs from pigs vaccinated with inactivated vaccine based on a wild strain of Salmonella Typhimurium without targeted modification of the vaccine strain. dr. Nedbalcova et al.: Diagnostic set enabling detection of the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.

It can significantly contribute to preventing the risk of failure of antibiotic treatment and the spread of dangerous antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens of animals.

Nechvatalová et al.: Transfer of humoral and cell-mediated immunity via colostrum in pigs. Colostrum as the first source of nutrition for newborns contains not only antibodies, growth factors and antibacterial peptides, but also a huge number of cells. Authors contributed in growing the amount of knowledge in this topic supporting vaccination of pregnant sows.

Varmuzova et al.: Composition of Gut Microbiota Influences Resistance of Newly Hatched Chickens to Salmonella Enteritidis Infection. Authors brought an important piece of information in topic of gut microbiome manipulation during early life of chickens with the aim to increase natural resistance to bacterial infections.

The most interesting story

Marker vaccine against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis in cattle The vaccine was developed by researchers from AdmireVet center. It is currently realised by Bioveta company a.s. under trade name BioBos IBR delet in. Bovine herpesvirus type 1 as causative agent of the disease is economically important pathogen of cattle. The developed vaccine against the disease does not induce antibody production of glycoprotein E- specific antibodies. It can be used for a differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals what is particularly important in set up of eradication programmes.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation

Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director

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Centre for Research and Utilisation of Renewable Energy

The main goal of the Centre is to concentrate significant research and development facilities for the solution of issues of development, research, and utilisation in the areas of electrochemical sources of electric energy, hydrogen cells, electro-mechanic energy conversion, power and control electronics and sensorics, and production of electric energy from renewable resources.

Technická 3058/12, 616 00 Brno www.cvvoze.cz Prof. Vladimír Aubrecht +420 541 146 715 aubrecht@vutbr.cz Prof. Vladimír Aubrecht

The most important teams in the Centre

Research teams and their leaders:  Optimisation of electromechanical energy conversion, Ondřej Vítek, viteko@feec.vutbr.cz  Chemical and photovoltaic energy sources, Petr Bača, baca@feec.vutbr.cz  Generation, transmission, distribution, and use of electrical energy, Petr Toman, toman@feec.vutbr.cz  Automation and sensor technologies, František Zezulka, zezulka@feec.vutbr.cz  Research of the switching-off process in switchgear, Vladimír Aubrecht, aubrecht@vutbr.cz

Unique facility

The Research Centre focuses its research, development, and innovation efforts on issues concerning renewable energy sources. Its research teams concern themselves with issues in the area of chemical and photovoltaic energy sources, electromechanics, electrotechnology, electric drives, power engineering, and industrial electronics.

Its strategically most important laboratories include:  Switchgear laboratory  for short-circuit testing of electrical apparatuses with alternating currents up to 150 kA.. The laboratory is unique on the national scale plus neighbouring countries allowing for short-circuit testing with direct currents up to 50 kA (1000 V).  High voltage laboratory – for testing equipment designed for work in high voltage networks.

A part of the laboratory is one of the largest specially shielded halls in the Czech Republic.  Testing and calibration laboratory – accredited laboratory for the development, testing, and calibration of non-electric quantities sensors, service life and climatic testing, designing, automated gauging systems, including data collection and processing.

The most interesting story

Part of the switchgear laboratory is a special short-circuit generator of the highest technical standard. The short-circuit generator is equipment generating very high current that is fed into the tested electrical circuit. During the short-circuit tests this fifty-tonne device generates a current of up to 150 kA, which corresponds to the power of lightning stroke. The electric arc plasma temperature arising during the short-circuit shot reaches up to 30 000 degrees. In a matter of a few milliseconds, huge mechanical forces arise which have the tendency to deform the electrical and mechanical parts of the machine. The energy released in big short-circuits has the power to destroy a smaller family house. This is why the generator is absolutely exceptional in both its electric winding design and the design of the mechanical reinforcement of all its electrical and mechanical functional parts.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Centre of Engineering Research Development

Engineering VÚTS, a.s., Svárovská 619, Liberec XI - Růžodol I, 460 01 www.vuts.cz Ing. Jiří Václavík, Ph.D. +420 606 726 344 jiri.vaclavik@vuts.cz; Prof. Ing. Miroslav Václavík, CSc.

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Ing. Miroslav Václavík, CSc.; Assoc. Prof. Ing. Josef Dvořák, CSc.; Ing. Petr Jirásko, Ph.D.

The most important teams in the Centre

Weaving Technology Department, Automation Department, Mechatronics Department, Gauging Department

Unique facility

Top standard equipment for noise and vibrations

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The best facilities in the area of noise and vibrations in Central Europe

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

Mechanisms and machines theory – quotations in the area of cam mechanisms, patents in the area of weaving technology

The most interesting story

The Centre has been completed in two years without external agency assistance.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre

Centre of Polymer Systems

Plastics and rubber industries, chemical technology branch+B11 tř. T. Bati 5678, 760 01 Zlín www.cps.utb.cz Prof. Ing. Vladimír Sedlařík, Ph.D. +420 576 038 013, Mobile: +420 734 262 658 cps@utb.cz Prof. Ing. Vladimír Sedlařík, Ph.D. Prof. Ing. Petr Sáha, CSc.

The most important teams in the Centre

Polymer processing, Bioactive polymer systems, Rubber processing and materials, Multifunctional materials

Unique facility

The Centre has all the infrastructure required for efficient research and development including modern laboratories with equipment needed for the characterisation of physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials. The results of the laboratories´ research work can be verified on plastics and rubber processing pilot lines.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

There are many centres in the Czech Republic whose equipment and programmes partly overlap with those of the Centre. Nevertheless we know of no other centre covering such a broad spectrum of areas of plastics and rubber research and development as our Centre.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

Practical applications: development of flexible displays in collaboration with the NWT company. High ranking on the list of the best research centres – seventh position on the Lidové noviny list. Publication of articles in the Q1 and Q2 magazines. Collaboration with Continental, Mubea, Bata.

The most interesting story

Very good results with practical application in the field of polymer composites and renewable material based products have been achieved under two projects run by the Centre, in which researchers of the Centre of Polymer Systems participate.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Centre of Sensor, Information, and Communication Systems

Telecommunications, electronics, sensorics, signals, and data processing.

Technická 12, 616 00 Brno www.six-centre.eu Ing. Martin Slanina Ph.D. +420 541 146 587 six@six-centre.eu Ing. Martin Slanina Ph.D.

The most important teams in the Centre

Sensor systems. Signal processing. Radiofrequency applications. Mobile communications.

Advanced cybersecurity. Antennas and HF circuits.

Unique facility

The Centre has its own research and development infrastructure enabling it to design comprehensive information, communication and sensory systems. It has the capability to analyse and develop both partial components and complete systems from the physical layer to higher layers. Examples: the design and experimental characterisation of antennas and high-frequency circuits to frequences of up to 110 GHz; analysis of radio frequency signals and testing cybernetic resistance of equipment.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

In building SIX Centre, we were inspired by FTW (Forschungszentrum für Telekomunikation Wien) in Austria and in developing the Centre we collaborated with CTTC (Centre Tecnològic Telecomunicacions Catalunya) in Spain. Since FTW has wound up its activities, we are the only research centre in Central Europe completely covering the area of modern wireless communication systems (information, control, and sensory subsystems are their natural part).

There are several nanotechnology-oriented centres both in the Czech Republic (Brno, Ostrava, Liberec) and in nearby countries (Poland, Austria, Germany) but few of them can offer so intense and tight connection between top-class fundamental research and industry-level products and services.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home

SIX Centre collaborates very closely with the Faculty of Electronics and Informatics at the TU Wien (Technical University in Vienna). Each working group of SIX Centre has at its head one professor from the TU Wien and one professor from Brno University of Technology. For example, Prof. Markus Rupp and Prof. Roman Maršálek are intensively working on the research of future generation mobile communication systems. The results of their research are applied practically not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Germany (collaboration with VW Forschungszentrum) and in Austria (Telekom Austria).

The most interesting story

A few years ago we were addressed by SINTEX textile works to measure the shielding effects of conductive textiles it manufactures, and were given samples of other materials from its production. The interest of our doctorands was caught by three-dimensional textiles whose structure reminds of dielectric material for the manufacture of microwave circuits and planar antennas. In collaboration with the Centre of Polymer Systems in Zlín we coated the surface of the three-dimensional textiles with a polymer layer and began to print on it communication systems components with silver pastes and inks. We obtained the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and together with the firm, we started work on the multi-functional use of components printed on textiles in the construction of small and medium-size aircraft.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director

Centre PIGMOD (Pig Models of Diseases)

Biomedical research, development of models for biomedicine Rumburská 89, Liběchov, 277 21 pigmod.avcr.cz Michal Schmoranz +420 777 468 683 schmoranz@iapg.cas.cz Prof. Jan Motlík, MVDr., DrSc.

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Jan Motlík, MVDr., DrSc.; Ing. Zdenka Ellederová; PhD.; RNDr. Hana Kovářová, CSc.

The most important teams in the Centre

Cellular regeneration and plasticity laboratory

Unique facility

Transgenic miniature pigs for research and pre-clinical studies of potential therapies of neurodegenerative diseases and genetic defects. Study under the GLP regime. Miniature pig models for the study of melanoma regression. Unique operating theatres. Microscopes for intraocular surgery and implantation, vitrektoma. Equipment for the application of lentiviral vektors into specific regions of the brain and application of stem cells into spinal marrow. Equipment for immunohistochemical and MS-SC anayses.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The equipment of our operating theatres and our animal models – miniature pigs with Huntington´s disease and MeLim miniature pigs are unique.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

Prof. Motlík is a co-originator of the transgenic miniature pig with human sequency for Huntington´s disease; he is a member of a number of learned societies and invited speaker at conferences on pre-clinical research of the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. CRISPR-CAS9 transgenic miniature pigs are used for the study and efficiency of therapy by companies in the Netherlands and the USA concerned with the development of gene therapies and stem cell therapies.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre The most important teams in the Centre

COMTES FHT a.s.

JG - Metallurgy, metal materials, JS - Reliability and quality management, testing Průmyslová 995, 33 441 Dobřany www.comtesfht.cz Ing. Pavel Šuchmann +420 377 197 305 psuchmann@comtesfht.cz Ing. Libor Kraus Assoc. Prof. Ing. Jan Džugan, Ph.D. Dr. Ing. Zbyšek Nový Thermomechanical processing research team

Unique facility

Possibility of casting testing material on the basis of iron, nickel, aluminum etc. in amounts of up to 500 kg, processing it by the usual industrial methods of forging, rolling etc. and completely describing its mechanical properties, thermophysical parameters, and the microstructure.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

Germany: Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung - similar programme, but without comparable equipment for forming technology testing.

Belgium: OCAS - comparable technological equipment, but less well fitted laboratories for making material analyses.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home

Assoc. Prof. Ing. Jan Džugan, Ph.D.: devotes himself to mechanical metal testing and creation of complete material models. Is a leading world expert in the area of small sample testing. Gained practice at several workplaces in the CR, Germany, and Japan. Is a member of several important specialised companies, such as ESIS, ASTM, DYMAT, EERA. Is the author and co-author of new material testing methods and standards.

Dr. Ing. Zbyšek Nový: devotes himself especially to the research of connections between the microstructure and mechanical properties of metal materials. Cooperates actively with industry in forming technology development and thermal metal processing. Is the author and co-author of several international patents concerning the thermal and thermomechanical processing of metals, adding special properties to materials and shortening energy intensive processes in metal working.

The most interesting story

For COMTES FHT, an important German car manufacturer, we are developing a new kind of steel with very unusual mechanical and physical properties (use in the manufacture of ignition combustion engines). The development was started at the end of 2015 and in 2016 all the required parameters were achieved so that later in 2017, the new material will be used in serial car manufacture. In the process, technologies developed over the past few years are used, some of which are the object of Czech and international patents.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

HiLASE Centre

Laser physics Za Radnicí 828, 252 41 Dolní Břežany www.hilase.cz Ing. Michael Písařík, Ph.D., Business Development Manager +420 702 196 552 mocek@fzu.cz Ing. Tomáš Mocek, Ph.D.

The most important persons in the Centre

Ing. Tomáš Mocek, Ph.D., Prof.Dr. Akira Endo, Dr. Antonio Lucianetti, Dr. Danijela Rostohar, Prof. Nadezhda M. Bulgakova, Dr.Sc.

The most important teams in the Centre

Research Programme 1: Research of picosecond thin-disc lasers; 2: Research of nanosecond cryogenic lasers; 3: Development of industrial applications; 4: Development of scientific applications

Unique facility

Superlasers for the real world is the main mission of HiLASE, which concerns with the experimental development of a completely new generation of solid-state high pulse energy and high repetition frequency lasers. HiLASE lasers with such parameters are substantially stronger, more efficient, compact and stable than the currently available equipment. The outputs of the project so have a great application potential in hi-tech industry, e.g. for advanced laser micro machining technologies, optical materials resistance testing, high precision drilling and cutting, shock wave laser peening or EUV lithography.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found

The HiLASE has 2 unique laser systems. The weaker and faster one - PERLA (Pearl), which can drill unimaginably precise openings with a cadence of 100 000 pulses/sec - will boost development in engineering and micro machining and find also use in electronics, creating electrical connections 1000 times thinner than the hair. The other laser Bivoj - currently the strongest one of its category worldwide - can be used in the development of new materials for aircraft or car industries. In one stroke it can fortify the surface of steel of the size of a larger watch. HiLASE offers the development of unique laser technologies and applications for high-tech industry, which is further supported by a team of theoretical scientists, who deal with the design of new materials and improvement of their properties using lasers developed in HiLASE, which operate in both the monochromatic and the multichromatic excitation modes. The equipment is absolutely unique worldwide.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

1) Research programme 1, prof. Akira Endo: HiLASE and Gigaphoton Inc., a Japanese leading-edge technology company in the semiconductor industry, signed a 2-years agreement on a joint research project aiming to extend the current technological limit of the 100 kHz, 500 W picosecond thin-disc laser to the 1 MHz, 1 kW level 2) VP2 - Dr. Antonio Lucianetti: In Dec. 2016 Czech scientists in HiLASE, in collaboration with their British counterparts, were the first to achieve the 1000W magic medium output limit from the Bivoj laser. After 15 years of efforts they won the race with rival teams in the USA, Japan, and France. The services of the new generation laser can be used by firms not only in aviation, but in all sectors, where the properties of special metal materials need to be improved. 3) VP4, Dr. Inam Mirza published the paper “Ultrashort pulse laser ablation of dielectrics: Thresholds, mechanisms, role of breakdown“ where clear connections have been established between the thresholds and mechanisms of the damage and white-light generation upon femtosecond laser irradiation of wide-bandgap transparent materials. 4) VP4, Dr. Thibault Derrien, a research fellow from the HiLASE, has been granted an individual Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship from the EC Horizon 2020 programme. 5) The HiLASE holds the Centre of Excellence title awarded by the European Commission.

The most interesting story

IIn last 4 years HiLASE has got to the top in the area of thin disk laser systems. The scientists chose to pursue their own research and use their own prototypes. The result of their efforts is the Perla C laser system, which allows to achieve excellent pulses and is used to fill contracts for important foreign firms. HiLASE has thus become leader in the area of pikosecond thin disk systems.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials

Material research, competitive engineering Studentská 1402/2, 461 17 Liberec, Czech Republic cxi.tul.cz Miroslav Černík +420 734 872 403 miroslav.cernik@tul.cz Assoc. Prof. Ing. Petr Tůma, CSc.

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Dr. Ing. Miroslav Černík, CSc. (head of the Materials Research Programme), Prof. Ing. Jaroslav Beran, CSc. (head of the Competitive Engineering Research Programme)

The most important teams in the Centre

Prof. Ivan Stibor and his team – organic chemistry; Prof. Miroslav Černík and his team – environmental remediation nanomaterials; Prof. Petr Louda and his team: nanocomposites and plasmatic treatment; Assoc. Prof. František Novotný and his team – machinery building

Unique facility

robot KUKA LBR iiwa and industrial robots KUKA, NANOSPIDER 1WS500U, electron microscope ZEISS, 3D Object Connex printer, Powertrain system, Hexapod

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found

NANOSPIDER 1WS500U

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

Prof. Dr. Ing. Miroslav Černík, CSc. Scientific director CxI, specialist in the area of nano-iron applications for water treatment and nano-materials toxicity; long-standing member of the programme committee of the NANOCON international conference, investigator for CxI in a number of international projects, author of 82 publications in WoS, 736 quotations (102 in 2015), value of H-index 17. Prof. Ing. Jaroslav Beran, CSc. construction of unique equipment for the preparation of nanofibres; Assoc. Prof.

Ing. František Novotný, CSc. publishing in the International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, patent Mobile stabilised platform for RoboTUL.; Prof. Ing. Ivan Stibor, CSc. holder of the prize of VŠCHT Rector "For exceptional achievements in research and development" (2011), Emil Votoček Medal awarded by VŠCHT for the development of science and education spreading (2012), investigator for a number of GAČR and TAČR grants, 218 reviewed and impacted publications, 3314 quotations, value of H-index 32.

The most interesting story

A universally new way of nanofibre manufacture has been developed at TU Liberec using high voltage alternating current. On this basis, equipment has been developed and constructed for the manufacture of yarn containing nanofibres.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Institute of Clean Technologies for Mining and Utilisation of Raw Materials for Energy Use

Earth science, mining industry including coal extraction and processing 17. listopadu 15/2172, 708 33 Ostrava-Poruba ict.hgf.vsb.cz Ing. Jan Thomas, Ph.D. +420 597 323 082 jan.thomas@vsb.cz Prof. Ing. Vladimír Slivka, CSc., dr.h.c.

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Ing. Vladimír Slivka, CSc., dr.h.c.; Dr. Ing. Dalibor Matýsek; Assoc. Prof. Ing. Richard Šňupárek, CSc.; Prof. Ing. Petr Martinec, CSc.; Assoc. Prof. Ing. Petr Skupien, CSc.

The most important teams in the Centre

Team of scientists associated in the Competence Centre for Effective and Ecological Mining of Mineral Resources, whose task it is to survey certain non-energy and other raw materials deposits.

Unique facility

Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with analysers WDX, EDX, and EBSD; Laboratory of Wells and Hydrocarbon Deposits Stimulation; Water Jet Laboratory; Workplace of Thermal Hydraulic and Mechanical Processes in Rocks; Laboratory of Physico-chemical Methods.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found

There is no workplace in Central Europe concerning itself comprehensively with the study of the use of the Earth´s crust for ensuring the energy requirements of a sustainable development of society. Besides the research of raw materials extraction and use, the scientific and research teams concern themselves with other issues related to the use of the rock environment in efforts to ensure sustainable development including the safeguarding of the conditions and behaviour of the rock massif in connection with the underground storage of burnt-out nuclear fuel, underground energy raw materials storage and the use of high-potential and low-potential geothermal energy.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

In 2016 alone, the following applications which have found their practical use were completed: patented equipment for repeated measuring of the distance of retention points (patent No. 28 599), reaction chamber for macro sample testing in situ (patent No. 30610), two unique pilot results – thermal insulating board on the basis of non-autoclave calcium silicate and aluminum silicate and High Temperature Underground Heat Storage, devised in collaboration with an industrial partner. Another good result is a technological line for the desalination of natrium-chlorine mine waters in black coal mines.

The most interesting story

Efficient use of mineral raw material sources is one of the key issues to which the Institute currently pays much of its attention. Environmentally friendly extraction in the conventional deposits of mineral raw materials and prospecting for new rare metals sources such as lithium, niobium, tantalum, or molybdenum, help reduce raw material dependence on foreign sources.

Thanks to the laboratory´s excellent results, a Centre of Competence has been set up at the Institute for the efficient and ecological extraction of mineral raw materials.

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre

Materials Research Centre

Chemistry and Chemical Technology FCH VUT Brno, Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno www.materials-research.cz/en/ Ing. et Ing. Pavel Indruch MBA +420 541 149 446, +420 724 040 583 indruch@fch.vut.cz Prof. Ing. Miloslav Pekař, CSc. Prof. Jaromír Havlica, Prof. Martina Klučáková, Prof. Ivana Márová, Prof. Martin Weiter

The most important teams in the Centre

Laboratory teams: inorganic materials, metals and corrosion; biotechnologies and biomaterials; biocolloids, organic electronics, bioplastics

Unique facility

Complete chemical characterisation of materials including dispersions, advanced fluorescent spectroscopy, thermic analysis and calorimetry in material and biomaterial research, printed electronics and material print, microreology

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found

Multidisciplinarity and "full-chain value"

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

The leading experts and their teams regularly publish the results of their basic research in renowned scientific magazines and have their work with an application potential patented. In collaboration with firms, they bring the results of their research into practical realisation. They collaborate with dozens of small and large firms of regional or nation-wide character, as well as with supranational companies. A key to their success is systematic collaboration with students and the guidance of students towards creative and technological work.. This is supported by collaboration and exchange programmes with a number of foreign universities.

The most interesting story

Hydal biotechnology developed in the Centre by the team of Prof. Márová processes food industry wastes into valuable bioplastics friendly to the environment. Its collaboration with Nafigate Company has made it possible for its invention to leave the laboratory and penetrate to users abroad.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

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Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre

Membrane Innovation Centre

Membrane separation technologies Pod Vinicí 87, 471 27 Stráž pod Ralskem, Czech Republic www.membrain.cz Ing. Pavlína Kotrbatá +420 724 942 899 pavlina.kotrbata@membrain.cz Ing. Petr Křižánek, Ph.D. Ing. Luboš Novák, CSc. - owner, winner of Czech Head Award

The most important teams in the Centre

The Membrane Innovation Centre focuses especially on the application of the results of its own research and development in the area of electro membrane processes and their combination with pressure membrane processes for the separation of liquids. It also concerns itself with the membrane separation of gases and vapours. Its research activities are divided into:  Membrane and membrane materials research and development  Research and development of membrane modules, equipment, and membrane processes  Research of membrane technologies and their application

Unique facility

The Centre avails itself of complex analytical equipment and equipment for the development of its own types of membranes. However, the most significant with regard to the applicability of its results is the large number of pilot units of electro membrane and pressure processes.

Due to their compactness, these units make it possible to carry out research and development activities in the real environments of our partners and clients. This allows us to demonstrate the functionality of our results.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

VITO (Belgium), University of Twente (Netherlands), BWT (Austria, PC Cell (Germany), WETSUS (Netherlands)

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

The projects developed by the Centre are also used by MORAVIA LACTO, PPG, LONZA, PFEIFER & LANGEN, GE HealthCare, ČEZ, VEOLIA and FUJIFILM companies, as well as by MEGA, the parent company.

The most interesting story

The comprehensive character of the services offered by the Centre is attested to by the realisation of technology for the regeneration of solutions on the basis of glycols, specifically cooling liquids from car and bus engines and heat tansfer liquids from the heating systems of large buildings. The process has been preliminarily specified by laboratory tests, the results of which have been verified on pilot equipment using real media. These steps have made it possible to realise a commercial contract, where the applied technology is capable of processing an alternative composition of waste glycols to a quality enabling their reuse.

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14.

Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director

Pomology Research Institute Holovousy

Comprehensive research of temperate zone fruit species Holovousy 129, 508 01 Hořice, Czech Republic www.vsuo.cz Lubor Zelený +420 731 659 008 zeleny@vsuo.cz Jaroslav Vácha, Tomáš Zmeškal

The most important persons in the Centre

Jan Blažek, Jitka Blažková

The most important teams in the Centre

Teams concerned with fruit breeding, plant protection, technologies, gene pools

Unique facility

NextGen and Sanger capillary sequencer, RealTime PCR, ELISA spektrofotometer, Differential scanning calorimeter and programmable freezer for cryopreservation, FT-NIR Antaris II, NIR MicroPhazir AG, HPLC with CoulArray detector, GC/MS (QQQ), ICP-MS, nitrogen analyser, ULO storage technology, accredited laboratory for pathogen detecton, technical and spacial insulator for fruit tree reproduction material, genepool of moderate climatic zone fruit species.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The only comprehensive pomology research institute in the Czech Republic

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

The Institute´s leading scientists are known in the world through their publications and the results of the Centre´s breeding programme. More than 80 fruit varieties have been registered, 9 varieties have been awarded European plant breeders΄ rights and two varieties have been awarded US Plant Patents. Its cherry tree varieties are successfully grown in orchards in the Czech Republic and other countries the world over. The best known cherry tree varieties include Kordia and Tamara. The Centre has the largest temperate zone fruit tree gene pool in Central Europe, which it uses for further research and breeding. The Centre´s research workers participate in national and international programmes in the area of plant protection and the creation of directives concerning integrated and ecological fruit production. The Centre is also a member of international teams concerned with the research of cultivation technologies and fruit agrotechnics.

The most interesting story

When preparations for the project were nearly completed, an unexpected problem arose. The requirement was to build the Centre on own property, instead of on land we had under longterm lease. Until the last moment it was not certain whether the owner would be persuaded to sell the property and the management began to consider a change of the locality. As if by a stroke of luck, 15 days before the deadline for the project to be handed in the last co-owner of the property agreed to sell and the contract was signed.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

15.

Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Regional Centre for Applied Molecular Oncology RECAMO

Basic and translational research in oncology Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Žlutý kopec 7, 656 53, Brno, Czech Republic www.recamo.cz Assoc. Prof. MUDr. Dalibor Valík, Ph.D. +420 543 136 700 valik@mou.cz Assoc. Prof. MUDr. Dalibor Valík, Ph.D.

The most important persons in the Centre

RNDr. Bořivoj, Vojtěšek, DrSc., Dr. Philip John Coates, Ph.D., Prof. Theodore Robert Hupp, Ph.D., Mgr. Roman Hrstka, Ph.D., MUDr. Petr Müller, Ph.D., Prof. Robin Fahraeus, M.D., Ph.D., Prof. RNDr. Miloš Vlastislav Novotný, DrSc., dr.h.c., Prof. RNDr. Silvia Pastoreková, DrSc., MUDr. Rudolf Nenutil, CSc., Prof. Ing. Lenka Hernychová, Ph.D. , doc. MUDr. Regina Demlová, Ph.D., doc. RNDr. Lenka Zdražilová Dubská, Ph.D.

Unique facility

Mass spectrometry analysis: The mass spectrometry unit operates two high-performance mass spectrometers (Orbitrap Elite and TRIPLETOF 5600+) equipped with liquid chromatography and robotic sampler. The mass spectrometry facility is designed to perform a broad spectrum of proteomic methods including shotgun and quantitative proteomics, analysis of posttranslational modification of proteins etc. Moreover, the facility includes the instrumentation for analysis of protein structure and interaction by hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX).

The Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute in Brno (MMCI) is a Czech Republic governmental top medical institution focused on clinical care and research in oncology. It is the largest specialised tertiary cancer centre in the Czech Republic. Regional Centre for Applied Molecular Oncology (RECAMO) is a unique infrastructure for applied research at MMCI, working jointly with clinicians to facilitate the applications of basic knowledge to clinical situations. Research activities and research interest at RECAMO range from tumour biology and pathology, regulation of cell proliferation, development of cancer, and cellular response to environmental insults to clinical trials of Phase I and II. RECAMO develops sustainable, innovative and high-quality original research in the area of molecular oncology to meet the needs for future applications within the emerging framework of personalised medical oncology. RECAMO is also a supervising research centre for students of Masaryk University (MU) – Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Medicine and Palacký University (UPOl) and RECAMO researchers participate in teaching at MU. The Centre thus creates the background for education, training, and career progression for young researchers.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

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The results of RECAMO team are reflected in the publications in prestigious scientific journals.

For complete publication activity of RECAMO team, see www.recamo.cz.

16.

Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail Director

Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials

Top standard research and high technology transfer to medical, industrial and environmental practice with special emphasis on connecting the Centre to international networks and consortia. Šlechtitelů 27, 78173 Olomouc, Czech Republic www.rcptm.com Prof. RNDr. Radek Zbořil, Ph.D. +420 585 634 973 radek.zboril@upol.cz Prof. RNDr. Radek Zbořil, Ph.D.

The most important persons in the Centre

Several important Czech scientists are employed in the Centre: prof. P. Hobza (H-index 96, winner of the Czech Head competition award, figuring on the ISI highly cited list, the second most cited Czech scientist in 2016: more than 2500 citations/year, prof. R. Zbořil (H-index 50, Prize of the Ministry of Education, in 2016 the most cited Czech scientist: more than 3 000 citations/year; prof. M. Otyepka (H-index 38, ERC grant winner, in 2016 among the TOP 5 most cited Czech scientists: more than 1 200 citations/year).

The most important teams in the Centre

RCPTM is one of the centres of the highest degree of internationalisation in the Czech Republic employing scientists from 15 countries. The high degree of internationalisation is projected into the high degree of collaboration with highly efficient research workers/institutions in the aria of material and nanotechnological research. The realisation of the submitted project will further enhance internationalisation and the creation of new possibilities of collaboration between top institutions within the branch.

Unique facility

The Centre has an absolutely unique infrastructure (see chapter 6 of this study of feasibility), which offers the most complete device park for material and nanotechnological research in the Czech Republic. Quite unique is its comprehensive microscopic laboratory (most efficient HRTEM in the CR, followed by UHV STM, AFM/Raman, electrochemical microscope, MFM, SEM, GDOES, etc) and the laboratory for analyses in external magnetic fields (PPMS, SQUID, Mössbauer spectrometer for measuring in the external magnetic field, EPR, NMR).

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home

RCPTM holds a privileged position not only in the Czech Republic, but also on the world scale. This is attested by the publication and citation performance of the Centre. A simple sign of exceptional quality is the review of articles published by the RCPTM research team over the past few years (2012-16) in the most prestigious professional magazines such as Chemical Reviews, Chemical Society Reviews, Accounts of Chemical Research, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, Nano Today nebo ACS Nano např.: Georgakilas et al., CHEM. REV. 112, 6156 (2012), CHEM. REV. 115, 4744 (2015) a CHEM. REV. (2016), IF= 46.568; Hola et al., NANO TODAY 9, 590 (2014), IF=15,0 a BIOTECHNOL ADV. 33, 1162 (2015), IF= 9.015; Gawande et al., ACCOUNTS CHEM. RES. 47, 1338 (2014), IF= 22.323; CHEM. SOC. REV. 44, 7540 (2015), IF= 33.383; COORDIN. CHEM. REV. 288, 118 (2015), IF= 12.239 a CHEM. REV. (2016), IF= 46.568; Rathi et al., COORDIN. CHEM. REV. 291, 68 (2015), IF= 12.239; Sharma et al. CHEM. SOC. REV. 44, 8410 (2015), IF= 33.383; ACCOUNTS CHEM. RES. 48, 182 (2015), IF= 22.323; Urbanova et al., CHEM. MATER. 6, 6653 (2014), IF= 8.354; Tucek et al. ACS NANO 5, 7571 (2014), IF= 12.881; Trouillas et al., CHEM. REV. (2016), IF= 46.568; Ulbrich et al., CHEM. REV. (2016), IF= 46.568.

The most interesting story

RCPTM prides itself of the highest performance of all the 48 centres built under the V and Vpl scientific and research programme measured by the number of publications and citations in proportion to the number of research workers. In 2016 alone the Centre participated in more than 350 publications in impacted periodicals (involving 110 FTE scientific workers) nearly 40% of whom had their work published in professional periodicals with an impact factor of over 5.

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R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

17.

Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director

Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX)

Environmental and human health Kamenice 753/5, 625 00 Brno www.recetox.muni.cz Ing. Kateřina Šebková, Ph.D +420 549 493 063 sebkova@recetox.muni.cz Prof. RNDr. Jana Klánová, Ph.D.

The most important persons in the Centre

Professors: Jana Klánová, Martin Scheringer, Luděk Bláha, Petr Klán, Jiří Damborský

The most important teams in the Centre

Environmental chemistry and modelling; Environmental analytical chemistry, Organic photochemistry and supramolecular chemistry; Protein engineering, Ecotoxicology and human toxicology, Environmental and human risk assessment, Epidemiology, Biostatistics.

Unique facility

Open-access research infrastructure including long-term environmental (ambient air and water) monitoring networks as well as human population cohort studies, accredited Trace Analytical Laboratories (ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005), environmental databases and information systems (www.genasis.cz, www.pops-gmp.org, celspac.cz) supports the interdisciplinary research in environmental science, epidemiology and biomedicine employing emerging tools for non-target analysis, omics technologies, vitro biology, biostatistics and bioinformatics.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The RECETOX research infrastructure and expertise is unique at the European level due to the broad scope and interdisciplinary approaches connecting external exposure pathways with internal exposures and related effects and risks.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

RECETOX in known for its effective science to policy transfer mechanism: it works as the National Centre for Toxic compounds advising the government on safe management of chemicals and collaborates with the World Health Organisation as well as United Nations Environment Programme as the Regional Centre for Capacity Building and Technology Transfer in Central and Eastern Europe. In collaboration with Environment Canada and other international partners it operates global air and water monitoring networks and it is a lead partner of the Global Observation System for persistent organic pollutants Initiative of the Global Earth Observations. More than 500 peer-reviewed articles were published by the RECETOX researchers in the last five years in the high impact international journals (incl. 2x Nature), 20 patents and 76 other application outputs. RECETOX students and researchers were awarded by many international rewards.

The most interesting story

The interdisciplinary reasearch of RECETOX attracts the international researchers: currently, almost one third of the scientists are internationals. RECETOX organises the International summer schools of environmental sciences on the annual bases since 2005. It has brought to the Centre more than 500 international students from 90 countries.

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18.

Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre

Research Centre Řež

Research and Development for Power Generation Husinec-Řež 130, 250 68 www.cvrez.cz Pavel Burkovský +420 266 173 383 cvrez.@cvrez.cz; pavel.burkovsky@cvrez.cz; Dr. Martin Ruščák Dr. Jan Uhlíř, Dr. Michal Košťál, Dr. Fosca Di Gabriele

Unique facility

Two nuclear research reactors and experimental loops simulating operation parameters of PWR, BWR, SCWR, MSR; hot cells; severe accidents laboratories (e.g. cold crucible, LOCA); material laboratories; microstructural and microchemical laboratories; NDT laboratories.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found

There is no such complex research centre in Europe. Combination of research reactors, technological experimental loops, hot cells and material laboratories at one site is really exceptional.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts - what brought them renown in the world and at home



Dr. Michal Košťál developed the methodology for measurement of spectral averaged cross sections of high energy threshold reactions; his team participates in the International Reactor Dosimetry Fission and Fusion Files working under the IAEA; cooperates with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Georgia Tech on the physics of Generation IV MSR/FHR reactors; develops new methods and experimental techniques leading to improvement of calculations of reactor pressure vessel irradiation.  The main field of Dr. Fosca DI GABRIELE expertise is the high-temperature performance of materials in contact with gaseous and heavy liquid metal environments; her activities are focused on the study of the interaction of various materials, environmental assisted cracking and chemistry control in HLMs; she is involved in the development of strategic documents for implementation of fast reactors in the European national strategies.  Dr. Jan Uhlíř is oriented to the R&D of pyrochemical–fluoride separation and reprocessing technologies, and to the nuclear fuel cycle chemistry and technology of selected advanced reactor systems. His long-term practice is mainly in the development of fluoride volatility reprocessing method and other fluoride pyrochemical partitioning technologies, recently of those devoted to MSR fuel cycle. Dr. Jan Uhlíř is a representative of the Czech Republic in the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle of the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency and a member of several OECD-NEA expert groups and committees. He is a member of the MSR System Steering Committee of the Generation Four International Forum as a representative of EURATOM.

19 |

R&D CENTRES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

19.

Specialisation Address of Centre Websites Contact Phone E-mail Director The most important persons in the Centre

South Bohemian Research Centre of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses

The Centre covers multidiscipline scientific programmes with special regard to aquaculture and the protection of the water environment.

Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany www.frov.jcu.cz/en/cenakva Prof. Ing. Otomar Linhart, DrSc. +420 387 774 600, +420 724 357 897 linhart@frov.jcu.cz Prof. Ing. Otomar Linhart, DrSc. Jacky Cosson, Ph.D., Dr.h.c., Prof. Ing. Otomar Linhart, DrSc., Ing. Marek Rodina, Ph.D.

The most important teams in the Centre

Team VP1: Reproduction and genetic procedures for the maintenance of the biodiversity of fish and aquaculture; Team VP2: “New“ polutants in the environment and their influence on freshwater ecosystems; Team VP3: Long-term sustainability of the aquaculture with due water management and nutrient control; Team VP4: Biology in the changing conditions of freshwater ecosystems.

Unique facility

Liquid chromatograph with mass spectrometer; LDTD-laser diode thermal description; MALDI TOF mass Two-dimensional liquid chromatograph TSQ

The most important applied results of the Centre

Gela D., Flajšhans M., Kocour M., Rodina M., Kašpar V., Linhart O.: Breed of carp Ammur mirror carp; Kozák P., Kuklina I., Pautsina A., Císař P., Kouba A. (2014): Method of behavioral monitoring of crawfishes and/or mollusks and behavioral system for monitoring behavior of crawfishes and/ or mollusks – national patent; Regenda J. (2016): Device for enhancing quality of standing water of outdoor water storage reservoirs and corresponding equipment – national patent; Pšenička M. (2016): Method of eliminating adhesive capacity of fish roe stickiness by rapid oxidation of the sticky layer – national patent;

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

Patent licenses sold: In 2014 – Feed for common carp and method of rearing common carp with increased content of omega 3 fatty acids content – the firm Rybářství Chlumec nad Cidlinou, a.s.

In 2016 - Method of eliminating adhesive capacity of fish roe stickiness by the rapid oxidation of the sticky layer – the firm Baha.

Collaboration in the framework of contracted research at the international level: • ASIALOR SARL Fish Farm, Dieuze, France • BIL Sweden Admin AB, Stockholm, Sweden • Center for Viet Nam Aquaculture Technology, Vietnam • Exposmeter AB, Tavelsjo, Sweden • KC CAVIAR, Ltd, Garforth, Great Britain • SINTEF Fiskeri og havbruk AS, Mo i Rana, Norway.

Omega 3 carp It is well known that common carp is very popular in the Czech Republic. That is why The FFPW USB innovated feeding technology of the common carp in ponds with higher omega 3 fatty acids. Carps are fed by special feed containing rape, extruded flax seed, cereals, soya bean, carp premix and stabilising agents in an appropriate ratio. Flax seed, rape seed oil, or blueweed oil can be added as well. The feeding technology ensures that 200 g portion of carp flesh contains nutrients as follows: 800 mg omega 3 fatty acids, of which 400 mg of highly unsaturated fatty acids, including 200 mg of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid. FFPW USB has registered trademark and patent is offered for licensing. On the market, this product is known as Omega 3 carp.

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20.

Specialisation Address of Centre Website Contact Phone E-mail

The R&D Centre for Low-cost Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications

Plasma physics Kotlarska 267/2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic www.ceplant.com Prof. Mirko Černák +420 549 491 446 info@ceplant.cz

Director

Prof. Mirko Černák

The most important persons in the Centre

Prof. Mirko Černák

The most important teams in the Centre

Prof. Mirko Černák, Assoc. Prof. Petr Vašina, Assoc. Prof. Vilma Buršíková, Prof. Ivan Ohlídal, Dr. Dušan Kováčik, Dr. Zdeněk Bonaventura, Dr. Tomáš Hoder

Unique facility

The focus of CEPLANT Centre is to solve the technological problems of modern companies thanks to the environmentally friendly and economically convenient plasma technologies for surface modifications in order to achieve value-added surface properties. The centre exploits the own developed and patented plasma sources working mainly at atmospheric pressure, which are tested and optimised according to the specific needs of each customer or user.

Nearest place where a similar facility in Europe or worldwide can be found.

The CEPLANT Centre is also well equipped with wide range of modern devices for chemical and physical surface analysis of various materials. The benefit of CEPLANT Centre is that its equipment allows complex study of plasma effect on material surface properties.

Key equipment: XPS, SEM, AFM, MALDI-TOF, SIMS, optical diagnostics (ellipsometers VUV, VIS, NIR), nanoindentation system, tear machine, profilometer, confocal microscope, drop shape analyzer for contact angle and surface energy measurement, etc.

The most important achievements of the Centre´s leading experts – what brought them renown in the world and at home

The greatest results of the CEPLANT Centre are the implemented plasma technologies in companies and R&D institutions across the world – SEMO, Smržice, Czech Republic (plasma treatment of the seeds in order to increase their germination); TONAK a.s., Nový Jičín, Czech Republic (world’s largest and most prominent manufacturer of headwear, who excluded the dangerous chemical processes from the production lines thanks to the plasma tehcnologies); The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Potsdam, Germany (plasma treatment of the food articles); A*STAR, Singapore (plasma treatment of glass surfaces). These R&D projects, which result into the implemented technology, are often realised via the Czech and European funding schemes (EUROSTARS, structural funds, national grant agencies).

The most interesting story

Besides the mentioned realised results, the establishment of three spin-off companies by the researchers from CEPLANT is considered as a success story of the Centre´s research team.

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TECHNOLOGY

Science Technology Advanced Region

and associated businesses concentrated in a relatively small area. All that being connected through close mutual interac-

Photo: Biocev, ELI Beamlines, Centrum HiLASE;

The region of Central Bohemia, with Prague as an integral part, is predisposed to be one of the leaders of technological research and development in the Czech Republic. Here we have a high concen-

tration of universities, research organisations and industry. In order to transform thoughts into know-how and know-how into money-generating business, we need areas of positive distinction where this process can happen more easily and naturally than elsewhere.

On the south side of Prague, such a place is being created and is currently thriving. We call it STAR – which stands for Science Technology Advanced Region. On an area of 6 sq.km, we have managed to put together leading research institutes, technology companies, innovation-supporting organisations, high-quality infrastructure, as well as enthusiastic people.

I like long-term projects and bold visions. I am convinced that STAR is on its way to becoming a successful science & technology cluster of international importance, a cluster of R&D institutions

| 13

tion, sharing and information exchange.

Just in two years, we have become an area of the highest concentration of research programmes and companies specialising in biomedicine, biotechnology, as well as lasers and material sciences.

We have managed to attract hundreds of millions of euros in public funding. Now we are aiming to attract hundreds of millions of euros in private investments; only the right proportion of both resources will create the “explosive“ mixture. I am

looking forward to the STAR big bang and I invite your institution or company to join the process.

Ing. Věslav Michalik, CSc. Chairman of the Management Board Science Technology Advanced Region michalik@star-cluster.cz

Věslav Michalik (*1963) graduated from the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering at CTU in Prague and received his doctorate in nuclear and particle physics. He worked as a scientific worker at the Czech Academy of Sciences. He completed long-term professional stays in Russia, France, and Germany and has published dozens of articles in scientific journals. Later, he worked in various top managerial positions in banking.

He is currently the mayor of Dolní Břežany and a councilmen of the Central Bohemian Region for the Regional Development.

14 |

SCIENCE

The Association of Research Organisations (AVO) AVO is the only organisation in the Czech Republic representing applied research. Founded in 1993, AVO has more than 80 members (mainly SMEs) with more than 8 000 researchers.

AVO's key role is to promote Czech applied research, development and innovations at both national and international levels and help to bring the R&D results into business.

MAP OF AVO MEMBERS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Asociace výzkumných organizací The Association of Research Organisations Address Novodvorska 994, 142 21 Prague, Czech Republic

E-mail avo@avo.cz

Source: AVO

Web www.avo.cz Social media www.avobloguje.wordpress.com www.facebook.com/science2S www.twitter.com/AVOtweetuje www.youtube.com/AVOvidea

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COMTES FHT a.s.

Průmyslova 995 334 41 Dobřany Tel: +420 377 197 311 E-mail: comtes@comtes.cz www.comtesfht.com

COMTES FHT a.s. is a privately-owned research organisation. The mission of the company is to provide highly specialised services in the field of R&D of metallic materials. Its main focus is the development of new metallic materials and technologies for their processing.

In terms of metal processing technologies, the organisation focuses on research into forming and heat treatment. COMTES FHT a.s. offer services worldwide. Priority markets include countries of the European Union, predominantly Germany and Austria.

Photo: The Association of Research Organisations (AVO); COMTES FHT a.s.

Telephone +420 239 041 998

CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE

MATERIAL & METALLURGICAL RESEARCH, Ltd. Pohranični 963/31 Vitkovice, 703 00 Ostrava Tel: +420 595 956 029 E-mail: jaroslav.pindor@mmvyzkum.cz www.mmvyzkum.cz

MATERIAL & METALLURGICAL RESEARCH Ltd. is a research organisation founded in 1946. The basic mission and strategic plan of the company is to provide the research, development, technical and technological innovations, and service in the field of metallurgy and materials engineering in order to contribute to increase the competitiveness of Czech industry.

Experimental and production facilities are concentrated in the testing laboratory No.1300, accredited by the Czech Accreditation Inspection, in non-accredited laboratories and a pilot workshop.

The company has bilateral cooperation with research centres and industrial partners in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, China, France, Poland, Serbia, Japan, Slovakia, and the Netherlands.

SVÚM joint stock company Tovární 2053 250 88 Čelákovice Tel: +420 326 509 014 E-mail: svum@svum.cz www.svum.cz

SVUM is a joint stock company established in 1994. The former National Research Institute for Materials in Prague was founded in 1949.

SVUM has gradually developed into a leading center of research in the field of metallic materials, plastics, and testing. The company is a private research organisation whose main activity is research and development of metals, polymers, and composites and material properties testing in accredited laboratories.

VÚTS, a.s.

Svarovska 619 Liberec XI – Růžodol I 460 01 Liberec Tel: +420 485 301 111 E-mail: vuts@vuts.cz www.vuts.cz

The company VUTS, a.s., was founded in 1951. During its existence, it became wellknown in global mechanical engineering, especially with its unique invention of jet weaving method, many patents for openend spinning, nonwovens production technology, and a range of textile machines and other equipment. Since the mid-90s, the company diversifies its activities and with special focus also on the outside of the textile industry, it strongly orientates itself on the area of machinery for the manufacturing industry. Its current principal activity is the implementation of R&D work aimed at the development of theoretical knowledge and its direct use in industrial applications.

Výzkumný a zkušební ústav Plzeň s.r.o.

Tylova 1581/46 301 00 Plzeň Tel: +420 379 852 275 E-mail: vyzkum@vzuplzen.cz www.vzuplzen.cz

Výzkumný a zkušební ústav Plzeň s.r.o. (further referred to as VZU Plzeň) offers a wide range of services in the field of R&D and accredited testing. It is able to solve complex research orders and projects comprising computer modelling of a problem, testing in accredited testing laboratories, and performing measurements on products under the operational conditions. The accredited laboratories offer more than 250 test methods. VZU Plzeň renders services to almost 400 customers from both the Czech Republic and abroad every year. R&D and testing is provided especially to these sectors: classical and nuclear power engineering, transport industry, metallurgy, heavy, mechanical, and material, engineering.

16 |

SCIENCE

CzechInvest Agency has been supporting collaboration between scientists and the commercial sector on a long-term basis. Its R&D Promotion Department offers consulting services and the seeking out of potential research partners. It is a point of contact for collaboration with other actors in the R&D support system and organises events serving as a platform for finding and striking up international and domestic partnerships between universities and research organisations and the private sphere. Part of CzechInvest´s strategy is to raise the added value of investments and the technological level of the Czech Republic. The Agency also supports technology transfer in the area of space technology application and start-ups in the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Prague.s.

In December 2016, CzechInvest launched its website czech-research.com. Through this professional communication channel, CzechInvest intends to attract high-value-added investments to the Czech Republic. The new Czech research and development web portal enables a better linkage with high-tech investments that will raise the competitiveness of the Czech Republic.

Its English language sites provide coherent information about the Czech scientific and | 17

technical environment, interesting workplaces and possibilities of obtaining support for research and development in the Czech Republic. Foreign interested parties will find a choice of useful facts there, with references to other relevant sources.

In the past few years, thanks to the EU Structural Funds, the Czech Republic has built a vast infrastructure for research and development within the framework of the EU Research and Development for Innovation Operational Programme, which helps towards raising the country´s competitiveness and its knowledge-based economy orientation. Some EUR 1.5 billion has been invested in 21 Czech towns within the framework of 48 projects to build modern centres. These regional R&D and excellence centres together form a unique whole, with complementary expertise in forward-looking, technologically advanced sectors.

From the very beginning, international research collaboration has been regarded as an important part of the activities of those centres to which CzechInvest Agency contributes its share by seeking out potential international partners and investors trying to find a base for their research activities. For this purpose, it organises technological missions to foreign destinations.

This involves the organisation of specifically oriented delegations, composed of representatives of research organisations and innovative firms presenting the Czech Republic as a technologically advanced country with all the prerequisites for col-

laboration in the development of new technologies and the potential of industrial application. The missions reflect the long-standing need for broader internationalisation of Czech research, focusing on forward-looking sectors in which the Czech Republic has much to offer. They differ from traditional business missions in the emphasis they place on seeking longterm R&D partnerships advantageous to all involved parties. For example, in 2016 representatives of CzechInvest took part in a mission to Estonia, focusing on cybernetic safety and e-Government. In Columbia, they gathered experience in the area of Smart Cities and in Japan, sought contacts among robotic firms.

CzechInvest has databases containing all important data on research in the Czech Republic and it systematically supports the dialogue between the industrial and academic spheres, e.g. by organising seminars concerning research and its future targeting. The Agency has a comprehensive survey of all research projects supported by public money and their results, as well as of the support providers and their programmes, data concerning international collaboration projects in the area of research and development, and a survey of research facilities existing in the Czech Republic, in addition to other information. In 2017, the Agency is focusing its interest on areas such as Smart Cities, Industry 4.0 and cybernetic safety, which are among the current main technological trends.

Photo: CzechInvest

CzechInvest Links Czech R&D with Other Countries through Its Unique Website: czech-research.com

17th INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL TRADE FAIR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | SURFACE TREATMENT | POWER ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING | LOGISTICS | WELDING | 3DEXPO | FOR JOBS

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14.06.17 16:49

59th International Engineering Fair

MSV 2017 8th International Fair for Transport and Logistics

International Fair for Environmental Protection Technologies

ENVITECH

October 9 –13, 2017 Brno – Czech Republic Last spaces available. Last chance to book them! on-line application for participation: www.bvv.cz/en/msv

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BioVendor:

Targeted Diagnostics Is the First Step in an Effective Therapy BioVendor is a global biotechnology company bringing new insights into diagnostics and biomarker research. BioVendor’s success story is associated with our focus on continuous improvement of laboratory diagnostics to provide doctors with invaluable tools for determining the best possible treatment. Our pioneering products and methods are recognized by international biomedical researchers in top-ranking academic institutions and used in the pharmaceutical industry where they contribute to new therapeutic developments. Offering hope to patients in the battle against disease is our mission.

BioVendor is an internationally operating group with its own R&D and manufacturing capabilities; its synergistic portfolio allows us to serve professionals from biomedical research, clinical diagnostics, infection serology, veterinary diagnostics and food analysis.

The BioVendor Research and Diagnostic Products division has specialized in immunoassay kits for the detection of novel protein biomarkers, related antibodies and recombinant proteins soon after the first publications describing them. The strength of this strategy has been demonstrated by worldwide interest in many these commercial assays. Recently we are also focusing on new cuttingedge topics – miRNA biomarkers, liquid biopsy, exosome isolation, and immunodiagnostic multiplexing and automation. BioVendor is a respected partner of many university teams collaborating in research projects funded by the EU or local governments. miRNAs are small, non-coding RNA molecules found in humans, animals, plants and some viruses which are playing an important regulatory role in the gene translation. miRNAs are involved in virtually all physiologic processes and are new and promising potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of many diseases.

Development of miRNA diagnostic assays is just the first step; our mission is to provide validated kits to measure diagnostically relevant miRNAs, supported with tools for standardized sample collection, miRNA isolation, and pretreatment.

BioVendor’s miREIA is a novel, patented, immunoassay-based method of miRNA quantification which involves hybridization of miRNA isolated from a patient sample to a complementary biotinylated DNA oligonucleotide probe followed by immunodetection with a monoclonal antibody specific to perfectly matched DNA/miRNA hybrids.

BioVendor − Laboratorni medicina a.s., Karasek 1767/1, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic Phone: +420 549 124 185, Fax: +420 549 211 460 E-mail: info@biovendor.com • www.biovendor.com

Becoming a multinational group Established in the Czech Republic

1992

Operating directly

6 countries

R&D facilities

5

Industrial sites

4

Turnover 2016

38.6 mil. €

Unique protein biomarkers Leptin – the first protein hormone secreted by fat tissue discovered AFABP – a biomarker for prediction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in relation to diabetes and metabolic syndrome Serum uromodulin – a sensitive and specific biomarker of nephropathy

“MicroRNA biomarkers bring a revolution in clinical diagnostics” miRNA biomarkers in a pipeline Cardiovascular disease

Alzheimer disease

Colorectal cancer

Stroke

Rheumatoid arthritis

Metabolic disorders